No, your favourite influencer hasn't got a dozen dachshund dogs. It's just AI

When scrolling through social media recently, you might have noticed posts which seem a bit… off.

Grainy CCTV footage of a dog saving a child from a bear attack, a video of wild bunnies on a trampoline or a picture of a Christmas market outside Buckingham Palace.

It's all AI generated and due to its low quality and its inauthenticity, it's being branded AI "slop".

Both social media users and content creators say they're worried that AI slop flooding feeds is leading to a less authentic online experience - and is drowning out real posts.

But a new trend, which sees people adding AI-generated animals to original photographs, has encouraged some content creators to embrace AI.

"I was like, that's really niche because it looks so real," influencer Zoe Ilana Hill says.

The 26-year-old jumped on the trend after being impressed by the imaginative way another content creator had used AI, by editing some of her original photos and adding AI dogs.

"I don't want to see it [AI] as a threat to my career, I want to see it as something I can work alongside with," the full-time influencer says.

Zoe, who has 82,000 followers, says she feels like platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are trying to "push" and "force AI" on users, and has seen her fair share of slop her own feed.

But she saw potential in the AI animal trend, adding that she suspected the post would perform well as she thought social media users would "be like, oh my God, she's holding a deer".

"The deer is so seasonal and that is so rare to be actually able to go and physically see a deer in person," she says.

Zoe says her post was a success - with more than 20,000 likes and comments including: "No stop this is the cutest thing ever" and "this trend is adorable!!!!"

Whenever Zoe posts a photo made with AI, she likes to make it clear it's a generated image, "there is actually a tag [on Instagram] where you can say this photo was created by AI".

"I don't think it's fair for people to think that something's real when it's not."

When influencers don't disclose the use of AI - it can cause confusion.

That was the case with one German influencer, with 900,000 followers, posted a picture with dozens of AI dalmatians captioned: "just me, living my dream".

One user commented asking: "Is it AI? I saw a post like this three times today."

Another replied concerned for the generated animals' welfare, adding "there are plenty of dogs sitting in animal shelters who would like to have a nice home".

"Hot girls have started using AI," wrote one X user discussing the trend by sharing animal photos from various influencers in a post viewed almost 27 million times.

But not everyone sees using AI this way as harmless fun.

Another X user responded: "They are not hot because they use AI for mindless slop that could easily be done by hand with Photoshop."

Clara Sandell, a marketing professional and digital creator from Finland took part in the trend after she saw it "everywhere" and found the posts "so cute".

"I kind of put my own twist [on the trend], I used my spirit animals and my favourite animals," the 38-year-old adds.

Clara posted a carousel photo on Instagram with tigers, an elk, a horse, and cats and dogs.

Reaction from the photos were positive, with many labelling the post as "chic" and "beautiful".

When asked if she would participate in future AI trends she replied "depending on how cute the trend is," and if it was transparent so that you can "see it's AI" being used.

For content creators looking to create high-quality images, social media consultant Matt Navarra thinks that AI makes it easier to produce "fantastical high gloss" and "aesthetic" content for influencers, "whether it's wild animals generated, through to something that's much more believable".

Whilst some of the AI content we see online is unrealistic and evidentially not real, Mr Navarra says "most people who are serious about being a creator or an influencer want to maintain a reputation".

He believes many creators are "doubling down on the realness" to give themselves a place on the feed amongst "a sea of AI-generated content which is flooding or AI slop as it's been termed".

The consultant says he predicts 2026 will be the year of AI dominated content on social media, adding: "If you thought that AI animal content was quirky, I think buckle up".

But not everyone will be pleased to hear this.

Maddi Mathers, a tattoo artist from Melbourne commented "love you but not the AI" under the same German influencers post who created the AI dalmatians.

Commenting isn't something that Maddi, who describes herself as a "very silent social media user" would normally do.

But when the tattoo artist first saw the photo, she believed it was real before but scrolling through the posts revealed the cute dalmatians were "obviously very fake".

"Honestly, it's such a simple thing but it makes you feel dumb when you get fooled by AI," the 25- year-old explains.

Maddi says such AI posts create an element of mistrust because "there's such an importance of being true to yourself and showing your true personality" when being an influencer.

She believes that when creators put out content that isn't real it can be "damaging for their career" as their audience "won't know what to believe anymore".

AI slop isn't necessarily a bad thing - "but the speed and volume of what we're creating" is what concerns creative health scientist Katina Bajaj.

"When we're creating and consuming AI-generated content at such a rapid pace, we aren't giving our brains enough time to digest," Mrs Bajaj says.

She explains that from her perspective, the solution to AI slop isn't to ban it or "look down upon AI tools," but to "prioritise and value our creative health more than generating endless content".

There is currently no requirement "to label images that have been created or altered with AI" on Instagram, according to Meta's policy.

However, "images will still receive a label if Meta's systems detect that they were AI-generated".

TikTok has recently launched a new tool which allows users to shape their feed - this includes being able to see more or less AI generated content.

The 'Manage Topics' feature is intended to help people tailor their 'for you page' to ensure users have a range of content in their feed, rather than removing or replacing content entirely.

There is a lot of AI software that can be used to make this trend, but not all can create the flawless content social media is portraying.

Emily Manns, a fashion content creator from the US, didn't quite get what she bargained for when she bought multiple AI apps to join in with the trend and received "one single rodent" in what was meant to be an aesthetic photo.

"I don't even know what [the animal] was," said the 34-year-old.

"It [the photo] took like 2 minutes to load, and when it loaded, I was peeing my pants of laughter."

The app also added an extra finger onto the influencers hand, and distorted her face.

Emily says she posted the photo to her Instagram but "deleted it instantly" because the content wasn't engaging very well.